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Friday, 20 March 2009

Jean-Michel Basquiat

This morning I saw this painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Beautiful. Basquiat has to be one of my favorite painters.

When I was 13 I saw in an art magazine pictures of a series of paintings by Basquiat and Andy Warhol. I was mesmerized. Completely fascinated. The colors, the mix between the splattered tribal drawings and the well executed pop drawings... I don't know, I can't say what got to me but all I know is that it is that particular series of paintings that made me decide I was going to be an artist. I wanted to be able to do this too, I wanted that talent, I wanted that vision, I wanted to be able to trigger this kind of emotions with a canvas and a bucket of paint. I had things to say and I wanted to say them with the same passion Basquiat had.
With time, and because I look at a lot of other works, I forgot about that series, I forgot about that artist, I forgot about the reasons why I started painting. But this morning, when I saw that blue painting it all came back to me in a flash and it really moved me.
So this morning, I just want to pay tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat (and Andy Warhol). Because they're part of the reason why I do what I do...